Cheers for Joseph Stiglitz…

In a section of his book, “The Price of Inequality,” printed in Salon, Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz gives a thorough analysis of why the top 1% is able to manipulate the rest of us by “brainwashing” us about inequality:

Joseph Stiglitz

The fact that the 1 percent has so successfully shaped public perception testifies to the malleability of beliefs. When others engage in it, we call it “brainwashing” and “propaganda.” We look askance at these attempts to shape public views, because they are often seen as unbalanced and manipulative, without realizing that there is something akin going on in democracies, too. What is different today is that we have far greater understanding of how to shape perceptions and beliefs — thanks to the advances in research in the social sciences.

It is clear that many, if not most, Americans possess a limited understanding of the nature of the inequality in our society: They believe that there is less inequality than there is, they underestimate its adverse economic effects, they underestimate the ability of government to do anything about it, and they overestimate the costs of taking action. They even fail to understand what the government is doing — many who value highly government programs like Medicare don’t realize that they are in the public sector.

Stiglitz compares the perceptions of Americans to citizens in other countries and discovers polar opposites in experience of  inequality and fairness. It is worth reading the whole article (HERE) to get his opinions on how beliefs effect reality,

Related articles

• Joseph Stiglitz Explains the Price of Inequality (wnyc.org)
• How the 1% Brainwashed the 99% (bigthink.com)
• Joseph Stiglitz: Why The Rich Need To Pay More Taxes – Business Insider (tribuneofthepeople.com)
• American dream is a ‘myth’ says Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz: National business news roundup (oregonlive.com)
• Joseph Stiglitz on Occupy Wall Street & Why US-Europe Austerity Will Only Weaken Economic Recovery (democracynow.org)
• Joseph Stiglitz on “The Price of Inequality: How Today’s Divided Society Endangers our Future” (democracynow.org)
• Joseph Stiglitz: The Middle Class Has Been Screwed Over The Last Decade (businessinsider.com)
• The Price of Inequality: How Today’s Divided Society Endangers Our Future by Joseph E. Stiglitz (planetizen1network.wordpress.com)